Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 126
Second Report - Welfare policy in Scotland
Published 23 Jun 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Welfare policy in Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
There were also questions raised as to the effectiveness of sanctions in encouraging claimants to find work. The Poverty Alliance said that ‘sanctions are both ineffective in their stated purpose of encouraging entry into employment and act only to exacerbate poverty and income crisis.’318 Marion Davis of One Parent Families Scotland called for a more positive approach than the current system of sanctions for claimants who fail to meet their claimant commitment. They reasoned that parents are ‘desperate to and aspire to do things for their children’319 when they are looking for work to help to support their families and, when on Universal Credit, ‘do not need to be told they are going to get their benefit cut’.320 Instead they presented a picture that claimants ‘want to be part of society, to be part of the economy’321 and so the welfare system should foster a more ‘positive model, [where] they are supported to move into work.’322
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, Second Report - Welfare policy in Scotland (HC 55), 23 June 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 November 2021 (deadline 23 August 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The UK Government "notes the Committee's recommendations" and responds to each in turn, accepting little of the report's welfare-policy proposals and referring several to the Scottish Government.
- On the £20 uplift and legacy benefits, it states "There was never any plan to extend the uplift to legacy benefits."
- On work allowances, it states it "has no plans to extend the work allowance to single adults".
- On Help to Claim funding, it "considers the existing resource to be sufficient", and says DWP agreed to fund Citizens Advice Scotland for another year, "up to 31 March 2022".
- On data sharing and Recommendations 2, 7 and 8, it says each data request "must be examined" by DWP as Data Controller, and treats several recommendations as "for the Scottish Government".